"The story of the enigmatic beauty who captured the hearts of two extraordinary men At 22, Marianne Ihlen travelled to the Greek island of Hydra with Norwegian writer Axel Jensen. While Axel wrote, Marianne kept house, until Axel abandoned her and their newborn son for another woman. One day while Marianne was shopping in a little grocery store, in walked a man who asked her to join him and some friends outside at their table. He introduced himself as Leonard Cohen, then a little-known Canadian poet.

Complemented by previously unpublished poems, letters, and photographs, So Long, Marianne is an intimate, honest account of Marianne’s life story — from her youth in Oslo, her romance with Axel, to her life in an international artists’ colony on Hydra in the 1960s, and beyond. The subject of one of the most beautiful love songs of all time, Marianne Ihlen proves to be more than a muse to Axel and Leonard; her journey of selfdiscovery, of romance and heartache is lovingly recounted in So Long, Marianne.

Award-winning journalist Kari Hesthamar wrote this book based on lengthy conversations with Marianne Ihlen and supplemented by interviews with Leonard Cohen".

That's strange, Helen! The hardcover version has been listed already for about two weeks at adlibris.fi, and my copy arrived in 3 days. Maybe amazon gives the official date but is ready to deliver much earlier.

Amazon UK are insistent that the book will not be published in Europe until July 17 Jarkko. I had a long correspondence with them at the beginning of the month. It's very strange, especially as the publisher is the Canadian publisher and the ISBN number is the same as the North American edition which has been available since last month, but they would not move from the July 17 date.

A number of other people from the UK and throughout Europe have also successfully ordered from the Book Depository via Abebooks. They are cheaper than Amazon and, I believe, offer free shipping throughout Europe. The book took about a week to arrive at a UK address.

[If you have already ordered from Amazon UK you can always cancel your order via Manage My Account].

Thanks for that link Wendy. I have ordered through Abe Books and delivery is quoted as 1-3 days and the price was a bit cheaper than Amazon

I had a similar problem with Amazon before Christmas when they said that a book was not published when it was. My cousin had actually written the book and so she knew it had been published. In the end, the publisher contacted Amazon to sort it out.

That Free Shipping for over $35 orders from the U.S. Amazon is for orders being sent in the U.S. only... or at least not to Europe. Maybe they'd ship free to Canada. Not sure.

I got mine awhile back, read it [LOVED it!], commented on it a LOT on FB [avoiding specific details, not wanting to spoil anything for those who can't read it, yet]. Have been going to copy & paste my comments over to here. So, maybe I'll now find the time to scroll back to where they are [i.e. find them] and do that.

The offer is printed on the very last page of the book. You have to email ECW with details where the book was purchased + receipt number ("Proof of purchase required" - they may also ask for a scan of the receipt). The eBook will be sent by email (PDF and ePub formats available).
So it is a bonus to every buyer of the print edition! (I ordered the pdf book yesterday, has not arrived yet)

Sitting with friends sailing from the Cycladic Islands to the Saronic Islands listening to LC.
Unfortunately we won't be visiting Hydra, but how lovely to be able to order the book just now.
Should have the book to read by the time I return home to Australia.
Jenny